


With words unspoken

by writelikethissss



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writelikethissss/pseuds/writelikethissss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having a room mate at university is the single worst thing that could have happened to Niall. Harry is pretentious and rude and Niall hates him. </p><p>Until he doesn't. </p><p>Title from 'Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow' by The Shirelles</p>
            </blockquote>





	With words unspoken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forthemoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forthemoon/gifts).



> Written for this prompt...
> 
> Roomates au where they can't stand each other (Harry thinks Niall is too loud and too extra, and Niall thinks Harry is too pretentious and he hates his scented candles). They're always getting into arguments about something, so when Harry takes an argument too far or does something that upsets Niall, Niall decides to get back at him by coming up with a secret admirer that sends Harry notes and gifts. Harry falls for the prank, but Niall starts to fall for Harry? (i'd love if you could include Harry ridding Niall at some point, but it's not a must have)
> 
> I hope you like it xx

Niall unlocks the door to his room, hoping Harry has gone out or is in the library or a class or anywhere apart from _here_ because he’s tired and wants to sleep. Harry had been up all night with his stupid reading light on, cramming for a test he has already over studied for (in Niall’s non expert opinion) and which he will probably ace anyway because things like that always happen to people like Harry.

The room smells of cinnamon for crying out loud. Ordinarily Niall doesn’t mind the smell of cinnamon, he likes it even; it reminds him of Christmas and winter and home. But it’s Harry bloody incense sticks that are causing the smell. Harry’s at his desk, headphones on and bent over this desk like he had been all night.

He turns as Niall walks in, smiling a dopey smile.

“Thought your test was today.” Niall says moodily, kicking off his shoes and throwing himself onto his bed.

Harry shrugs “Yeah, got another one tomorrow.”

Harry smiles as he looks at Niall, waiting for a response probably, but Niall can’t be arsed to give him one. He crawls under his covers and pulls them over his head. “Try not to be so fucking annoying tonight.”

When Niall had been told he would be sharing a room he was absolutely fucking devastated. He wanted his university life to be full of partying and drinking and late mornings and one night stands with random guys. Sharing a room had completely spoiled all of those plans so even before he met Harry, he already had his mind made up on absolutely hating the person who had ruined this for him.

On moving day, Harry had arrived first and had put his stuff in the middle of the room. Niall had tripped over a box when he was moving his stuff in and had shouted at Harry for putting his stuff in such a stupid fucking place. Harry looked mortified and sad and Niall had felt awful when Harry explained to him that he hadn’t wanted to claim one side of the room without them discussing which side they wanted. If Niall had let Harry have the side nearest the window even though he wanted it, nobody would ever have to know.

The thing about Niall and Harry is, that they are so different. Niall’s a lad, he likes going out partying and playing on the xbox and he’s loud and popular. He plays on the university’s football team and he’s friends with absolutely everyone. When he moved from Ireland to London to attend university he hadn’t even been nervous; he knew he would make friends and by the end of freshers week, he had a firmly set group of people around him. He had tried to ask Harry to come out with him and the others, but Harry had always declined, choosing to go out with his friends from London who were older and much much cooler than Niall, Liam and Louis (not that Harry had ever said this).

Harry had asked Niall to come along to his nights out with his London friends a few times, but Niall had always had football practice or something else on. He had wanted to go out of pure curiosity, to see what people who lived in Camden and Primrose Hill were like, but Harry had stopped asking after a while. And Niall thought an appropriate response to that was to stop asking Harry to come out with his friends. So they never really hung out. Harry didn’t know his friends, and Niall didn’t know Harry’s.

As time had gone on, it became apparent how different the boys were. Niall was sure Harry had a nice side in there somewhere, but he was becoming more and more obnoxious by the day. He didn’t like the music Niall liked. He had a _record player._ It’s 2015 and as far as Niall is concerned, music should come out of an ipod. Harry had told Niall over and over that he needed to expand his musical taste, explore other genres.

“I’m not into pretentious hipster music.” Niall had snapped back at him, one night in late February, when Niall was getting ready to go out with Liam. Harry was sat on his bed, strumming on the guitar he had for Christmas which he absolutely _cannot_ play.

Harry laughs, doesn’t seem to realise that Niall is being mean. Doesn’t realise or doesn’t care, Niall hasn’t worked out which. If he’s being honest, he is sick of trying to work Harry out at all, because just as he thinks he’s getting somewhere, Harry does something to really piss Niall off. “It’s not pretentious. Your mind is closed to new things, Niall, why is that?”

He’s still strumming his fucking guitar.

Niall turns round to look at Harry, hand still in his hair when he had been trying to style it in the mirror. “My mind is not closed. Fuck you.” Niall snaps. Harry frustrates him so much he has a really difficult time trying to articulate himself at all.

“Okay Niall.” Harry says in a patronising drawl. “If you say so.”

Niall honest to god wants to push him over, him and his stupid patronising grin and low slow voice and those awful boots he insists on wearing every day. They have holes in them. Actual holes.

“Have a fun night in on your own, Styles. Your hipster friends gone out without you have they?” Niall says and he knows it isn’t the best comeback but it has the desired effect because Harry looks a little hurt. Maybe they had gone out without him, Niall thinks for a split second and then snaps himself out of it, reminding himself why he’s angry with Harry in the first place. He picks up his phone and wallet and storms out of the door, slamming it behind him. Living with someone you don’t really get on with is really starting to take its toll so he makes it his mission to get as drunk as possible. He tells Liam this as soon as he sees him at the bar in the student union. Liam has bought Louis with him, because of _course_ he has, and Liam just smiles at Niall when Niall tells him he hates Harry and that’s why he wants to get wasted tonight.

Niall stumbles back into his room at around 3.30am, after a visit to the chip shop on the way home from the club they ended up in. Louis had convinced them all to go into town to watch some local band play a gig and as Niall had found out on the first day he met Louis, it’s pointless trying to argue with him because he always gets his own way. Well almost always, he had spent most of the night sulking when Liam’s friend Zayn had turned up at the gig, stealing Liam’s attention from Louis for most of the night. While Niall had found it highly amusing at the time, he had filed the information for later to tell Louis to just make a bloody move because Liam was as gone for Louis as Louis was for him.

He slammed the door shut when he _finally_ managed to remove his key from the lock and purposely made noise as he got kicked off his clothes, leaving a trail of them on the floor of his and Harry’s room. Niall could hear Harry snoring softly as he climbed under his duvet. The room was still spinning though, the alcohol still buzzing around his blood. He reaches blindly for his ipod and headphones, pleased that Harry hadn’t tidied up and moved them from where he had thrown them on the floor earlier on. It takes him three attempts to get his headphones over his ears, the first two attempts ending up with them snapping back and hitting him on the nose and left eye. He scrolls through his ipod, trying to focus because he _knows_ he’s drunk but he can’t make out the names of any of the artists that are on his playlist. He keeps scrolling and all he can see is artist after artist he doesn’t know. He reaches for the lamp on his bedside table and it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the light but as soon as he can see straight (ish) he stumbles out of bed and over to Harry’s.

He shoves Harry’s shoulder, and does it again when Harry doesn’t wake up. When Harry finally opens his eyes he gets right up to Harry’s face “Did you change all my music on my ipod?”

Harry smiles _smiles_ as he nods yes, “We were talking earlier about your music…” and there it is, Harry thinking he’s better than Niall again, Harry’s music is better, the things Harry enjoys watching on television are better, the films Harry watches are _better._ He’s sick of being judged all the fucking time and by someone like Harry, whose friends are all older than him and pretentious as fuck, who just because he’s studying Law he thinks he’s better than everyone and treats every conversation like a deliberation.

He looks smug now, even though he’s just woken up and Niall _should_ feel like he’s in control of the conversation but no, Harry is, as fucking usual. Harry’s still talking about he wants Niall to _expand his musical taste_ and Niall really doesn’t want to hear all that again.

“No! Fuck you! You deleted everything on there you twat, you’re a fucking prick!”

It almost impresses Niall that Harry doesn’t look in the slightest bit sorry, that he believes in his actions that much that he doesn’t care at all that Niall is so mad with him.

“Just listen to it, Niall. It’s all I’m asking. Can we turn the light off I have yoga in the morning.”

Niall _can’t._ He just cannot, he is mad that he can feel his arms getting hot, a red angry flush starting at his fists and crawling up his arms and over his back and his neck. He kind of wants to hit something. Not someone, Niall never feels like hitting someone is the answer, especially someone as pretty as Harry, but he could do with a punch bag right now. Or an empty field where he could just scream out his frustration.

He chooses to get back into bed, switching his lamp off before he angrily messes around with his duvet. Harry’s already asleep, he can tell by his breathing so he knows his huffing and puffing is fruitless and that Harry won’t be affected by it at all, but he does it all the same because it makes him feel better. Harry frustrates him more than anybody else in the entire world and he keeps doing things to piss Niall off. Niall doesn’t make the best decisions when he’s drunk, but he feels that he needs to think of something to get back at Harry to show him once and for all that he Harry can’t boss him around and tell him what to wear or drink or listen to.

Somewhere inbetween feeling like he’s going to be sick and the room spinning and Niall feeling like he’s never going to be able to see straight again, and the alcohol wearing off enough for him to fall asleep without him feeling like he’s on the waltzers, Niall decides that the absolute best way to get Harry back is to make him believe someone likes him. A secret admirer, if you like. He knows it’s childish, is the thing. He knows that it’s the kind of prank children play on each other. However, he also knows enough about Harry to know that he’s an impossible romantic and that since he broke up with his girlfriend at home before he left university, he hasn’t seen anyone. That’s what Liam’s friend Zayn said anyway. He has a class with Harry.

Niall is so delighted with himself that he’s still smiling when he wakes up the next morning. Harry’s bed is empty because he’s off doing yoga. Niall hunts for his iphone under his pillow and opens up a new search. He types ‘secret admirer’ into the search bar because honestly, he’s not really very well versed in being romantic and trying to woo someone. Do people still woo other people?? Woo is probably a word Harry would use, actually.

There is more about romance on the internet than Niall cares for, to be honest. It’s not that he doesn’t want to fall in love someday, have a family and all that, it’s just he hasn’t really had time in his life for it yet. He enjoys a quick shag every now and again, guys he meets through football or down the pub or that one guy in the changing rooms at the university gym just before Christmas, but he’s never felt the need to go over the top with romance to try and win someone.

That said, he hasn’t the patience nor inkling to sit and read a 2,000 word post on how to win someone’s heart, so he settles for a simple ’10 top tips to be a secret valentine’ and _yes_ Niall thinks. It’s Valentine’s day in a couple of weeks, it will be a _perfect_ time to reveal that it was all a prank.

He tells Liam this later on, in the pub when they’re watching Arsenal v Aston Villa. Arsenal are winning 2-1. Liam is delighted. It doesn’t stop him from giving Niall his unimpressed eyes though.

“That’s a really cruel joke, Niall.” He says eventually, when Niall doesn’t respond to _the eyes._

Niall sighs, Liam doesn’t understand. “He’s a prick.” Niall says, as if that’s enough.

“No, he isn’t. You just like different things, that’s all. You have different interests. It doesn’t mean you can’t get on with him. He’s actually a really nice guy.”

Niall looks at Liam over the rim of his pint glass. “How would you know? Zayn told you that has he?? How is Zayn by the way? Has Louis killed him yet?” Liam blushes, and Niall thinks is as good a time as any to bring up the Louis _thing._ Liam has different ideas, though.

“The most ridiculous thing about this, Niall, is that you would really get on with each other if you just got over your stupid reasons for hating each other and stopped moaning all the time.”

And what? Harry moans about _him?_ Liam realises he’s put his foot in it straight away and tries to backtrack.

“What I meant was…”

“Absolutely fucking not, Liam Payne. What has Harry fuckhead Styles been saying about me?”

“Um….” Liam starts. Niall can see him looking sideways, either for someone to come over and save him or for the quickest way to the door. Niall can’t tell which. “Okaaaaay…” Liam says when he realises he’s not going to be saved and when Niall puts his foot up on the bench by Liam, blocking his exit. “Remember what you say about him, alright? Um, he said you’re too loud and you talk too much but don’t really say anything. He says when you go out with your friends you act like a bit of a prick, and that he thinks you drink too much. Also…” and it seems now Liam has started, he just can’t _stop._ “He says you don’t work hard enough at your university work. He says you party too much and it’s unfair that your parents are paying for you to be here to get wasted every night. He also said that you dress like you’re in Year 8, he doesn’t understand the music you listen to and he says you swear too much. And he thinks you’re obnoxious.”

Liam stops. Niall’s speechless and he can’t remember the last time that happened.

“How do you know this? Did he say all this to you?”

“Course not! He said it Zayn, and Zayn told me.”

Niall rolls his eyes. “Of course he fucking did. Can’t tell me to my face can he, the prick.” He slides out of his seat and goes to the bar. He has something bubbling around in his belly that he can’t quite explain. If anyone was to ask he would say it was anger, but he’s not so sure it is. He’s bothered by Harry not liking him, is the thing. He orders a shot of tequila at the bar and drinks it before he picks up his and Liam’s pints. When he gets back to the table, Louis is there, squashed into the same side of the booth as Liam. Liam looks worried and tries to give Niall his _please don’t say anything_ face when he sees him. It’s awfully cute, the way they’re as close to each other as possible despite the room they have. Niall puts the pints on the table.

“Here ya go lads.” He says, nodding hello at Louis. “Enjoy.”

“You going somewhere?” Liam looks confused.

“Gonna head off, still feelin’ it from last night.” Liam looks sceptical, but Louis picks up his pints with a ‘cheers mate’ at Niall. Niall leaves, wondering if they’re _aware_ of how they act round each other. He snaps himself out of his, he’s _not_ romantic, romance doesn’t last anyway. He’s feeling weird about the things Liam told him about Harry and by the time he gets home he still hadn’t shaken it.

Harry’s not there when he gets back which is just perfect because Niall is really in the mood to complete number 1 on the secret valentine list. Niall is almost sick in his mouth when he reads it properly. ‘Send your valentine notes telling them what you like about them’. At this point, Niall isn’t sure that there is anything he likes about Harry. So he lies on his bed and put his headphones on and thinks. He has to make this believable. He clicks ‘shuffle all’ on his ipod and groans when he hears the first song, remembering Harry’s replaced all his good music with some hipster crap. He has a notebook in his hand, the tip of a pen in his mouth and three songs later the paper is still blank. His feet are moving to the music though, as it’s something Niall actually recognises. He didn’t think Harry liked mainstream music but the song playing is by Kodaline.

Niall taps the pen against the paper a few more times and then writes his first note, being careful to disguise his handwriting. He had picked up some fancy paper from WH Smiths on the way home from the pub. He didn’t know places still sold writing paper; he considered making up an email address, but a handwritten note is way more up Harry’s street.

Niall writes it and puts it in one of his fancy envelopes, drawing Harry’s name and a heart on the front. He thinks it better if he leaves it in their postbox in the lobby but changes his mind when he sees the number of people milling around. He decides to just place it on the floor so it looks like someone has slid it under the door. He spends ten minutes trying to get it to look right when he gets back to the room, so Harry doesn’t think it’s him that put it there. He gets under his duvet and practices pretending to be asleep for when Harry comes back. He spends so long doing it though, he actually falls asleep and when he wakes up, Harry’s at his desk.

Niall peeks over his duvet and looks at the floor, the letter has gone, meaning Harry has seen it.

“Hey.” Niall tries for casual, but fails, because Harry turns round and gives him a reprimanding look. Patronising dick.

“You still think I’m a _fucking prick?”_ Harry asks and the way he annunciates his words makes Niall want to strangle him a little bit.

“Nah. Sorry I was drunk. I have listened to it actually, and it’s good. The stuff you put on there is good.”

Harry looks at him as if to say ‘I told you so’ and turns back to his book.

Niall tells Louis what he’s doing in the pub the next night. Louis laughs as if it’s the funniest thing he’s heard. Liam voices his opinion again on how wrong and mean it is and states he is absolutely not going to get involved in this awful prank. So Niall sends him to the bar.

“He’s just very cautious about people’s feelings.” Louis coos after him.

“For fucks sake, just help me write something.”

“I don’t know Harry that well. For this to have an impact, it needs to be really personal. Like, something only someone who knows him really well would know. What do you like about him?”

Louis is an evil fuck sometimes. Niall glares at him and keeps his face straight when he says “Nothing.”

“Lies.”

“Fine.” Niall sighs and thinks, or at least pretends to think because he has at least five things already in his mind and since when did he have a _list_ of things he likes about Harry Styles?

“His eyes.” Niall tries.

“What about his eyes you big sap?”

“They’re green, and big, and bright. And yeah.” He leaves out that they have little flecks of yellow in them. And what?? What the fuck _is_ that?!

Louis is smirking at him. Full on smirking. “Bless. What else?”

Louis is killing him. “His dimples.”

Louis bursts out laughing and is still laughing when Liam gets back to the table. “What’s going on?”

“Niall loves Harry’s dimples.” Is all Louis says.

“Fuck you.” Niall takes a sip of his pint. “He’s helping me write Harry another letter. And he asked me what I like about him.” Niall says as way of explanation.

“So you started with his dimples?” Liam smiles at Louis.

“No Liam, he started with his eyes.”

“Well as much as I would love to stop and chat about all the things Niall likes about Harry, Zayn’s got a game of cards going on over there and I can’t watch you be like this with Harry, he doesn’t deserve it.”

Niall looks at Louis who is halfway between being jealous that Liam will be spending time with the flawless Zayn and not him, and being endeared that Liam doesn’t want to be mean to Harry. Niall clicks his fingers in front of Louis’ face. “You with me, Lou?”

“Yeah. Okay, Harry’s eyes. We can work with that.” He says and twenty minutes later Niall has an envelope in his hand that contains a very well written poem about Harry’s eyes that Niall is pretty sure could be a song. Even if he doesn’t manage to piss Harry off with this, Niall is pretty certain he’s found out what Louis is meant to do with his life.

Niall doesn’t make the same mistake as last time though, he doesn’t fall asleep while he’s waiting for Harry to get home. He’s sitting up on his bed and he’s put the envelope on Harry’s desk.

“When did this come?” Harry asks, picking it up, turning it over.

“Dunno, was on the floor when I got here.” And yeah, he’s so got this, so casual.

“Huh.” Harry opens it slowly and reads, Niall can tell he’s reading every single word and not skimming over anything, he runs his finger over the writing and he’s smiling. Niall’s plan is totally working!!

“What is it?” he asks, Harry doesn’t answer. Just grins a little and blushes, folding the paper back up and putting it inside a book on his desk.

“Nothin’. ‘S nothin’.” And Niall thinks he looks so cute that he almost feels guilty.

Wait, cute? Niall must have had too many pints this weekend. He shuffles down is bed and closes his eyes. The next thing he knows is that it’s dark outside and he’s sweaty, his jeans are sticking to his legs and he feels uncomfortable. He sneaks around the room to find a towel and his wash bag and leaves the room quietly to go to the showers. He’s never quiet when he leaves, never quiet any time ever, actually. He’s not normally that bothered about waking or disturbing Harry. He has the shower extra cold, he obviously needs some kind of shock.

Niall takes Louis’ advice and starts to ramp up the romance, sending Harry a teddy bear, a box of chocolates shaped like hearts with a strawberry filling (they were delicious, Harry shared them with him) and another letter over the next week but Louis’ advice also means that right now he’s on the Interflora website looking at flowers.

“I’m not sure about this.” Niall says, wishing he had followed the advice he saw on that blog, and hadn’t listened to Louis.

“Flowers are so romantic, Niall. Especially for Harry. He would love it, trust me!”

“I don’t understand this though, why are they tellin me the names of the flowers? Just want them to look nice don’t I?”

Louis gives him a look, which Niall ignores. Truth is, he was getting a bit invested in this whole thing. He was starting to feel one of two feelings when he looked at Harry receiving his presents; guilt or something else he couldn’t quite place. If he didn’t dislike Harry and everything he stood for with a passion, he would say he was getting a crush on him, but absolutely _not._ That is _not_ what is happening! At all!

He orders Harry a single red rose to be delivered to Harry on Valentine’s Day.

A week before Valentine’s Day, Niall and Harry are in their room. Harry’s reading some pretentious book he got out of the library; the pages are brown, it’s so old, and Harry’s spent the last twenty minutes giving him a synopsis of it.

“Are you listening?” Harry asks Niall.

“Not really.” Niall answers honestly. He rolls off his bed and picks up his guitar, and starts to strum.

“You’re really good.” Harry says after a while.

Niall is honest to god blushing, he can feel it in his face, it’s like it’s burning; he’s worried about global warming. He clears his throat before mumbling ‘thanks’ without looking at Harry.

“Can you teach me?” Harry says, moving across the room to sit next to Niall on his bed. “You must have noticed how bad I am.”

Niall had noticed alright, last night when Harry had spent thirty minutes playing random snippets from Coldplay songs, his arms flexing as they moved. Harry had kept scratching his belly and Niall had to drag his eyes away from the fern tattoos, wondering what it would be like to bite them. The thing is, Harry’s an attractive guy, its more fact than it is opinion. But Niall had always found him too annoying for it to be a thing. But as Niall was trying to find more about him to make this joke seem more real and for it to hurt Harry more, Niall was actually liking what he was finding out.

To hurt him more, Niall thought, and he felt sick suddenly.

“Yeah. Yeah I’ll teach you.”

He hands the guitar to Harry. Harry starts to strum again and suddenly, Niall is nervous. He can feel it in every bone in his body, he’s pretty sure he’s shaking. He asks Harry to play something, telling him it’s so he can see how good he is when all he is doing is giving his body some time to start behaving itself.  Harry starts the opening chords to Somewhere Only We Know by Keane and hums along with it, singing the words every now and again. Harry has a really nice voice, Niall thinks distractedly, and it’s different having Harry playing for him like this. He’s heard him a few times, of course but it feels more personal this way.

Harry’s voice is better than his guitar playing but Niall thinks he can work with it, so he starts the painful process of helping Harry to locate the chords, moving Harry’s fingers and helping him to feel the strings. He doesn’t notice how close he got to Harry, not until he made Harry laugh so much that his body shook. Niall liked that sound, liked being the one that made Harry do it. He liked how Harry looked when he was happy and wondered in their time sharing a room if he had ever made Harry feel sad with the awful things that he had said to him. The thought makes him a little queasy. He’s certain that it’s because he has been holed up in their room for most of the day without any fresh air and not, absolutely _not_ because he can’t take his eyes of Harry’s hands.

Niall looks over at Harry and when did they get _that_ close. Niall stands up quickly.

“Pub?” he asks, pretending to look for the shoes he knows he kicked under his bed earlier.

“Um. Okay. See you later then?” The look on Harry’s face makes Niall die inside, that Niall has been that awful to him in the past that even when Niall is asking him to go out for a drink Harry still doesn’t think Niall is asking him to go for a drink. “Some of the lads are there, thought we could go and meet them?” Niall clarifies and dies a little more inside when Harry’s face lights up again. Those fucking dimples, _god._

They walk to the pub in silence, Niall overthinking about what to say instead of just making small talk, and Harry humming to himself as he kicks stones and trips over his own feet while trying to avoid stepping on a worm. The sight makes Niall warm inside.

It’s _awful._

Louis’ eyebrows disappear under his fringe when Niall walks in with Harry.

“Why hello, Harry!” Niall really _really_ hates him sometimes.

“Hey. How are you? Would you like a drink?”

“No!!” Niall shouts in an answer. No way is Louis taking advantage of Harry’s kind nature ( _kind_ nature??).

“Well even though young Niall has already answered for me, I would just like to say thanks for the offer but Liam’s getting me one.

Of _course_ he is.

“Okay. Pint Niall?” Niall nods and Harry disappears to the bar, talking to four different people on the way there. Niall didn’t know Harry knew that many people around campus. It occurs to Niall that he didn’t really know much about Harry at all until these past couple of weeks. He knows now that Harry’s parents divorced when he was young, that he has a big sister called Gemma who he loves and asks for advice all the time, he can _sing,_ and he’s really quite clever. It takes him ages to tell a story, he’s funny without trying to be and he really cares about the people close to him, about anyone really. Niall has learned that Harry used to work part time in a bakery and makes the best scones in Cheshire apparently. He’s learned that he has completely and utterly missed not having Harry as a friend since September, that they have missed out on five months of being able to hang out and chat.

He’s also learned that having a crush on your roommate is very, very unfortunate. It’s also a new development. Niall’s not sure if Harry’s into guys, even. He knows he had a girlfriend in school and again in college, but he’s never bought anyone back to their room. Not that Niall has, either.

“You want to suck his dick.” Louis is an annoying prick sometimes, even more annoying when he appears to be able to read Niall’s actual mind.

“It’s not like that, he’s really nice.”

“Oh. You _like_ him. You’re such a tool Niall. Can’t even play a joke on a guy without falling in love with him.

“Shut up you twat! He might hear you! Don’t want him knowing that do I!”

“Oh Niall. Ironic really, that the flowers you sent him as a joke won’t be sent ironically anymore.”

“It was a rose.” Niall said and promptly added “Fuck you!” when Louis started to giggle.

 “You gonna tell it was all you? Tell him you really do love his green eyes?”

“Why the fuck would I do that, don’t even know if he likes blokes do I. Cause I’m a prick and never got to know him before.”

“Wow.” Louis sits back in his seat, arms stretched on the bench and eyeing Niall up. “You actually really like him. Funniest fucking thing I’ve heard all day!!”

“What is?” Liam asks and sits down, closely followed by Harry who passes Niall a pint. Niall takes a few gulps from it to take the edge off.

“Nothing, he’s taking the piss.” Niall gets in quickly before Louis can open his mouth, but he should have known better, because ten minutes later Louis has somehow managed to turn the conversation onto Niall’s ex boyfriends. Not that there has been that many, but still.

“So you see, Josh and him never worked out. Josh wasn’t the right one, was he Niall. Not really Niall’s type from the start, really.”

“Oh?” Harry looks more interested now, turning his body to face Niall. “What is your type, Niall?”

“What’s _your_ type, Harry? Haven’t really heard much about your exes.” Louis is an asshole but he’s a cheeky asshole.

Harry blushes a little, shakes his head when Niall tells him he doesn’t have to answer Louis’ stupid questions if he doesn’t want to.

“Haven’t really got a type, other than someone who can make me laugh. Someone who can have a bit of fun, you know, doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Someone who isn’t afraid to be who they are even if people don’t like them for it. Guess I’ve always been a sucker for people who are the life of the party, a little bit loud. Cute, got to be cute. Smaller than me, I like that.”

“You got a girlfriend back home, Harry?” God bless Liam Payne. Seems Louis is having an influence on him.

Harry shakes his head, then smiles a little. “Haven’t had a girlfriend for a while actually.” Niall feels his heart fall to his stomach. So he really is into girls. It hits Niall harder than he thought it would, realising there is absolutely no chance with Harry. He has hardly touched his pint but he wants to get away, can’t really say why, he’s had a crush on this guy for a matter of days but somehow it’s hit him harder than any other rejection he’s ever had. And he full on stuck his tongue down a guy’s throat when he thought he was coming onto him in a club once. Turned out all he wanted was a light for his girlfriend.

He asks Harry to move and says his goodbyes as he’s half out of the door and he walks quickly back to his room, kicking his clothes off and leaving them in a trail on the floor as he goes and falls into his bed with just his boxers on. He tries to sleep, even though it’s really early, but doesn’t really manage it and even if he had, he would have been woken up by the loud knocking at the door.

“Let me in Niall!” its Harry. Wonderful. Forgot his fucking keys and now there is no way Niall can pretend to be asleep.

Niall gets up and opens the door, not even saying hello to Harry. Harry just stares at him for a while, Niall feels exposed in just his boxer and honestly, he’s not normally that bothered if people see him like that.

“You owe me an explanation, I think.” Harry says as he shuts the door softly.

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know who has been sending me all those gifts. Am I right?” Harry looks at Niall until Niall gives in and nods. Harry looks _hurt_ and it’s the worst thing Niall has ever seen. “I thought we were getting on, finally, that we could be friends at least. But it was all to make me look stupid.”

“No. No I was annoyed with you, fuck you annoyed me so much, that I thought, well…” and now Niall has come to say it out loud, try and explain his actions to the person he hurt, everything he thinks of saying sounds completely lame. There is no way that he should have let himself get that carried away.

“What were you gonna do? Tell me in front of everyone? Arrange to meet me somewhere and then have everyone laugh at me?”

“No!! God, I would never do that to someone, definitely not to you!”

“Well done, though. I didn’t guess it was you. So I guess you won. You can celebrate now, you made a prick out of your annoying pretentious lonely roommate. Something to tell the kids isn’t it?”

“Wasn’t like that.” Niall is still standing in his boxers in the middle of their room, while Harry leans against the windowsill, his head down. _Fuck!_ Niall’s not a _bully!_ And that’s exactly what this was, really. “Wasn’t like that in the end, anyway. I am so sorry. I kind of got carried away with it. Then I was gettin to know you, and I kind of enjoyed that too. Those notes and all that, made you come out of yourself a bit more. Made you happier. I liked that.”

“You’re a prick. Louis is right.”

“Louis is what?”

“It wasn’t the notes and all that shit that making me happier you dickhead. It was that you finally talked to me instead of pretending I didn’t exist for all that time.” It _sounds_ like Harry’s flirting, which is confusing.

“Well I never did that…”

“Yes you did!! Always going out without asking me….”

“You were always out with your pretentious rich friends…”

“Fuck you, I used to ask you to come with me!”

And no no no no _no_ that is _not_ how it was. “No, hang on….” And that’s all he gets a chance to say, before Harry has a hand on Niall’s hip and the other holding his neck, his thumb stroking Niall’s jaw all as he backs him into the door and presses his entire body against his. Niall tries to talk, to _think_ but everything stops when Harry kisses him.

It takes Niall a millisecond to catch up, to understand that this is happening, because Harry’s so tall and he’s digging his hand into his skin and he has his other hand on his jaw and it’s overpowering to have him so close and everywhere at once. Niall kisses him back, sliding his tongue in and out of Harry’s mouth. He’s normally quite dominant, normally goes for blokes the same height or smaller than him so he can crowd them and take over and Harry’s only a little bit taller than him, but it feels like about three feet the way he’s surrounding Niall. Niall can’t help but moan when Harry bites hard on his lip and he wants to hear the same noise come from Harry so he does it right back.

Niall pushes off the door and starts to back Harry towards the bed, Harry tripping on Niall’s clothes as he goes but Niall managing to keep him up straight, them giggling into each other’s mouths. Harry slides back onto Niall’s bed, looking such a sight Niall can’t take his eyes off him. His hair is messed up from Niall’s hands and the collar of his t-shirt is stretched. He’s still wearing clothes though, which Niall thinks is unfair, so he crawls on top of him, pecking his lips as he runs his hands under Harry’s shirt bring it under his arms. Harry lifts his arms up so Niall can pull it over his head. He kisses Harry again as he works his way down Harry’s chest, past his belly button and grazing his teeth along those fucking ferns. When Niall starts to unbutton Harry’s jeans Harry gasps.

“Hey…” Niall crawls back up to him, to hover again so he can see Harry’s face. “You okay? We can do whatever you want. No rush.”

Harry giggles, honest to go _giggles_ and Niall really really wants to bite him. “Do you think I’ve never had sex before, Niall?”

“No, course not, just like, not with a lad.”

And there’s the giggling again.

“My ex boyfriend would probably disagree with that.”

“Your ex?”

“Yeah… So we never really finished talking about Louis did we..” and the last thing that Niall wants to talk about right now is Louis, but he humours Harry anyway. “He told me about the joke you were playing on me, said it was really getting to you that you had done it, said you were too shy to make a move, thought I was straight. If you had stayed in the pub for a minute longer you would have heard me talk about my ex boyfriend. We broke up in the summer, he was a little bit older than me. We’re still friends. Just, you know, not right for each other and all that.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…and I like you, if you hadn’t already guessed.”

Niall laughs “I like you too. And you can definitely guess….” And Niall kisses him, hands working their way back down to Harry’s jeans to unbutton them. Niall has to stop kissing to concentrate because he’s pretty sure they are painted onto him. Harry’s sweaty skin probably isn’t helping either, but he manages to peel them off eventually.

Harry’s already hard, and as Niall touches him through his boxers Harry arches his back, and Niall can’t get his breath at how fit he is. Niall starts to suck little love bites into Harry’s belly all along the waistband of his boxers, smiling into Harry’s skin when Harry starts to beg Niall to touch him properly. Niall’s good at sucking dick, is the thing, good at teasing, good at getting a guy so despearate that they are barely coherent. Harry’s no excpetion to this at all and if anything, Niall wants to make him feel good. Niall hooks his finger over Harry’s boxers and pulls them down slowly and makes sure to breathe a cool breath over Harry’s cock as he goes.

Niall stares at Harry for a moment, of course his cock is perfect, of course it is. He wants to kiss it, so he does and Harry practically jumps three feet in the air when Niall’s lips touch him for the first time. Niall takes his time, he likes the taste of Harry, likes how he keeps jerking when Niall touches him in a sensitive place. He licks and sucks around Harry’s tip until Harry is a babbling mess above him, and then he starts to pull off slowly, then go right back down again, getting further every time. He uses his hand where he can’t reach and when he’s had enough of teasing Harry with his slow pace, he speeds up, Harry’s thrashing on the bed and his hand is firm in Niall’s hair, fingers scratching his scalp. Harry starts to spasm and Niall pulls off a little so he can swallow, sucking and licking as Harry comes in his mouth, hot and fast.

As Niall crawls up Harry’s body, he’s still spasming, his arm splayed over his eyes.

“Fuck!!” he says for about the thirtieth time and then he’s pulling Niall down to kiss him, locking into his mouth and tasting himself. Niall loves it when guys do that. “Fuck that was amazing.”

Niall keeps kissing him, wondering when is a suitable time to finish himself off, because Harry looks spent and fucked out and Niall did that to him. Harry pulls Niall down so he’s flush against his own body and then rolls them over, not an easy task on Niall’s small bed. Harry kisses his neck his belly, grazes his teeth along Niall’s belly before pulling his boxers down and finally wrapping his hand around Niall, moving back up to kiss him as he wanks him off slowly and tight and twisting his hand driving Niall so mental he can’t think straight, let alone enough to kiss with any kind of finesse. When Niall comes, he moans into Harry’s mouth, digging his hand into Harry’s back. He lies there for a few minutes not able to talk, Harry on top of him and his come a sticky mess inbetween them.  

“So that was good.” Harry drawls into Niall’s neck and it makes Niall laugh out loud.

“Yeah I guess you could say that.” Niall scratches Harry’s back and wonders if he’s leaving marks. The thought makes him a little giddy. They don’t shower, which in hindsight was an incredibly bad decision because when they wake up a few hours later they are pretty disgusting. They both throw t-shirts on and run to the shower room, daring to share a shower cubical even though they could be caught any second. They mess around in the shower for ages, Harry getting on his knees in front of Niall after they’ve cleaned each other and washed their hair and it is right then that someone chooses to come in for a shower. He hears a door click further down and then the water come on. Niall punches the wall in frustration, Harry’s lips were so close to his dick. Niall signals for Harry to carry on which Harry looks absolutely mortified by. The thing is, there’s a gap under the door so anyone who walks their way will be able to see Harry kneeling and Niall’s feet. But that’s secondary to how much Niall wants Harry’s lips on him right now; if Niall doesn’t get off in the next few minutes he will positively die.

Harry stands up and kisses him, smirking that Niall is so frustrated and honestly Niall really can’t see the funny side of it at all. He had to hide his obvious erection all the way back to their room and when they get the door shut Harry shuffles back onto the bed.

“Finish what you started, Styles you wanker.”

Harry just smirks, and points to his cock. “We’re on another round now. My turn again.”

And _oh_ no. So Niall crawls over him, teasing him with his mouth before moving back to biting his belly.

“Niall, please…” and okay, pretty boys begging does something to Niall, so he takes Harry in his mouth again and slowly sucks up and down at a pace he knows would send _him_ mad. He has plans though, and pushes Harry’s legs apart and traces his finger to Harry’s hole, moving his mouth from Harry’s cock long enough to cover his fingers with saliva. He places his finger at Harry’s entrance and looks up at Harry for permission, like Harry would deny him anything right now, and pushes his finger in slowly at first but then quicker when Harry gets uses to it, pushing another finger and feeling a little bit of resistance at first but Harry relaxes and soon he has three fingers inside Harry and his mouth around the tip of his cock. The sounds Harry is making are unreal and Niall kind of wants to hear them over and over again. Niall feels Harry tugging his head, and then again with more force.

“No don’t wanna come like that…” Harry pulls Niall back up to his face “Want you to fuck me.”

“Jesus.” Niall kisses him back, fumbling for the drawer to his bedside table and he hopes he still has condoms and lube. He has to push Harry off him to reach around and get them and thank _fuck_ they’re still there. Niall moves to push Harry down onto the bed by Harry shakes his head and takes the condom from Niall’s hand, pushing Niall back down by his chest so Niall’s lying back down on the bed. He rips the condom packet open with his teeth and _fuck_ Niall is certain he’s not real, the way he looks, above him with his tanned skin wet with water from the shower and sweat. Harry rolls the condom on Niall’s cock and coats it with lube, throwing the bottle somewhere in the room. Harry’s gonna _ride_ him. Jesus _fuck_ Niall can’t see straight and as Harry sinks onto his cock Niall is certain he blacks out for a second. Harry is so tight.

“You okay?” Niall asks, placing his hand on Harry’s thighs and stroking.

Harry nods. “So full. Gimme a minute.”

Niall nods, rubs his thumbs across Harry’s thighs. Harry starts moving, the muscles in his thighs flexing as he pushes himself up. He throws his head back and from this angle Niall can really appreciate Harry’s body. He is toned but he also has a belly and Niall loves it, he just wants to get his teeth on it. When he knows Harry is comfortable, Niall places his hands on Harry’s hips and plants his feet on the mattress and starts to snap his hips up into Harry and soon Harry stops moving and lets Niall do all the work, which Niall is sort of okay with; he likes that Harry’s on top of him but he’s still kind of in charge. Niall quickens up and Harry starts to throw his head back uncontrollably and when he feels Harry start to spasm he reaches for his cock and strokes with his rhythm and Harry full on shouts when he comes. Harry tightening around him makes Niall come hard and Harry ends up bent over him, breathing heavily into his neck.

Niall can’t _talk._ He would be happy enough for Harry to just stay there forever, sweaty and fucked out and so hot. Harry moves his head round to kiss Niall and they kiss lazily for a little bit, Niall nipping at Harry’s lips because it makes him smile.

“We’re gonna need another shower.”

Niall sighs and nods because, yeah. They’re a little more restrained in the shower this time, putting boxers on to walk back to their room and deciding to sleep in Harry’s bed, not even considering sleeping separately. They fall asleep facing each other, their legs tangled and whispering to each other until they stopped making sense and sleep took over.

When Niall wakes up the next morning, Harry’s there, awake too and looking at him. “Mornin’”

“Hey. You okay?”

“I’ve been worse.” Harry smiles and moves forward to peck Niall on the lips.

“You wanna get breakfast?” because Niall is starving.

They get dressed sleepily, kissing a little more when they’ve both brushed their teeth and woken up a bit. Niall really wants to ask Harry what this means but doesn’t want to scare him off. 

“So, you’re gonna get a rose from me on Valentine’s Day.” Niall says as they’re crossing campus.

Harry laughs. “You’re supposed to keep it a secret.”

“Yeah but, I ordered them before, you know. Just wanted you to know. Like, I want you to have it. But yeah.”

Harry stops and pulls Niall into him, wrapping his hand around his waist. Harry kisses him, which is good, Niall thinks, because they’re in public and if Harry wants to kiss him in public it must mean that Harry wants his him a lot more. Niall isn’t sure if he can share a room with Harry if he isn’t allowed to kiss him, if he’s honest.

“We’re gonna go and get breakfast, and then we’re gonna go and sleep some more, maybe have some more sex, then I’m going to take you on a date and one day we will enjoy telling people how we got together but for now, let’s not mention the notes or that fucking teddy bear. Deal?”

“Deal.” Niall pecks him. “Just so you know, though. I do really like your eyes, and your dimples. And those chocolates I sent you were you favourites.”

“Niall, shut up.” And yeah okay, he can do that as long as Harry keeps kissing him like that.


End file.
